Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol

The third subsection of Chapter 4 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (pp. 58-59) narrows down and reformulates the problem of enforcing moral boundaries in terms of two hard questions (p. 59): (i) why not allow or permit boundary crossings so … Continue reading →

The second subsection of Chapter 4 is only two pages long (pp. 57-58), but it deserves our careful attention for several reasons: (i) One reason is Nozick’s geometric visualization of morality. As Nozick puts it (p. 57): “an area in … Continue reading →

Nozick (pictured below) presents an important theoretical problem in the first subsection of Chapter 4: the problem of independents, or how should a private protection racket deal with non-members? Additionally, Nozick raises a further theoretical problem in a footnote (p. … Continue reading →

Before we begin our review of Chapter 4 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU), let’s take a closer look at the overall structure and organization of this chapter. In summary, Chapter 4 is titled “Prohibition, Compensation, and Risk” and is … Continue reading →

      These beautiful book pins, and many more, are made by Ms. Jane Mount and are available for purchase here (hat tip: kottke).

Via The Amazing Cliff Pickover, we discovered a website that sells quilts of the periodic table, such as the one pictured below. These beautiful quilts are made by robots, measure 8 feet wide by 4 feet high (2.4m x 1.2m), and … Continue reading →

Nozick ends Chapter 3 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia by drawing up a tantalizing road map of the rest of his philosophical project (p. 53, emphasis in original): “The remainder of Part I … attempts to justify the minimal state. … Continue reading →

In our previous post, we reviewed subsections five, six, and seven of Chapter 3 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU). Here, we will review the next-to-last subsection of this long chapter. In short, after building a strong case in favor … Continue reading →

Since the Thanksgiving break, we have been rereading and reviewing Robert Nozick’s classic work of political philosophy Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU), one of our favorite academic books of all time. Thus far, we have posted our reviews of the … Continue reading →

In our previous post, we reviewed the third subsection of Chapter 3 in which Nozick makes a strong case for preferring moral side constraints over moral end states. In the fourth subsection (pp. 33-35), Nozick will focus on the libertarian … Continue reading →